Getting ready for more trials.

I have three trials coming up in the next month or so. The last weekend of May I have an AKC trial (shut up!) and then in the middle of June I have a novice trial and at the end of June another novice trial. I am really excited/nervous/proud/elated about the novice trials. I cannot believe we're even able to run in novice. Most border collie folks don't even bother with novice but it's been an amazing, long, hard-fought journey for Soda (and me!)

Well, we had a helluva lesson on Thursday. I worked more on driving and Terry said I need to make things happen and not just let them happen and react. She's right--I do do that a lot. She also said Soda was being fidgety and I need to stop her more. I'm not quite sure I saw what she was talking about but I did clean things up a bit.

Then I worked on more big outruns. The go-by was great but away got kind of messy because of the fence. She wanted to swing out wider but couldn't and that made her slow. We're going to try to get out into a bigger field here pretty soon. I also overworked her. That was stupid of me and I knew I was pushing it. Lesson learned. She didn't get overheated or anything but I could tell that her little brain was just done.

OH, and then I had my stupid, idiotic handling moment: I was telling her "AWAY! AWAY! AWAY!" to get her to cover the draw and then I realize that she is/and needs to be on the go-by side just as my trainer goes "uh, it's GO BY".

SO DUMB. My poor dog--it's a wonder that she doesn't just bite me.

We worked for pretty much a solid hour with only a couple of small breaks. It was really hard for her.

Next week, I want to work the away again and then I want to change the picture and have her run up the hill for the sheep. I think she'll be able to do it.